The present invention relates to the polymerization of acrylamide in an aqueous solution. More particularly, the invention relates to a process for preparing acrylamide polymers which is characterized by a specific polymerization initiator used therein.
Water-soluble polymers comprising acrylamide as their principal constituent are widely used as coagulants, viscosity imparting agents and the like, but there is a particular demand for those of a notably high molecular weight in recent years.
Such acrylamide polymers are ordinarily prepared by polymerizing in an aqueous solution acrylamide or a monomer mixture comprising acrylamide as its principal constituent. Polymerization initiators used in the preparation of acrylamide polymers are mostly azo compounds, peroxides, or redox initiators comprising peroxides and reducing agents. As other examples, combinations of azo initiators and redox initiators have also been proposed.
In general, an acrylamide polymer of a high molecular weight can be obtained by the polymerization in an aqueous solution under conditions of a low temperature and a reduced quantity of initiator. In this type of polymerization system wherein the product polymer is obtained as an aqueous mass having an exceedingly high viscosity or in gel form, it is necessary to initiate the polymerization at the lowest possible temperature in view of the fact that it is difficult to remove the heat generated during the polymerization by agitation. That is, since the temperature unavoidably rises once the polymerization is initiated, the polymerization should be initiated at a low temperature so as to avoid a reduction in the molecular weight of the product polymer due to an elevated polymerization temperature. In order to make possible the initiation of polymerization at a low temperature, redox initiators are employed.
On the other hand, water-soluble azo compounds are known as initiators for use in the polymerization of acrylamide in an aqueous solution as has been mentioned previously. The azo compound initiators generally provide high molecular weight polymers of few branched chains, and may therefore seem to be suitable polymerization initiators for use in the preparation of ultrahigh molecular weight acrylamide polymers. However, most of the commercially available azo compound initiators, when used at an ordinary concentration, cannot decompose at a low temperature to generate sufficient radicals for initiating polymerization. For this reason, the azo compound initiators cannot be used in the case where polymerization should be initiated at a low temperature as in the preparation of ultrahigh molecular weight acrylamide polymers.
This problem of the azo compound initiators can be solved by the use of redox initiators in combination therewith. More specifically, in the preparation of an ultrahigh molecular weight acrylamide polymers as described above, polymerization which has been initiated by a redox initiator at a low temperature proceeds to the decomposition temperature of an azo compound initiator used in combination, at which time the polymerization is resumed by the azo compound initiator whereby the advantages of this initiator set forth above can be utilized.
The method in which polymerization is conducted at a low temperature and an elevated temperature separately in the presence of polymerization initiators suitable for use in the respective temperature ranges may be said to be preferred from the point of view of the characteristics of the process for preparing ultrahigh molecular weight acrylamide polymers in which the polymerization temperature unavoidably rises as agitation cannot be employed.
This method, however, has been found to be still accompanied by various problems that will discourage the practice thereof on a commercial scale, such as a prolonged induction period or an excessively low polymerization rate, depending on the species of the redox initiators and the azo compound initiators employed in combination.